Eight Proven Strategies for Better Remote Work
After years of working from coffee shops and couches, there’s one thing I’m certain of: working remotely is hard. Incredibly hard. On paper, it sounds all rainbows and unicorns—you get to choose your own hours, you don’t need to deal with a boss looming over your shoulder, and you can even work in your pajamas.
This post originally appeared on the Zapier blog.
But working from home can just as easily be defined by poor productivity, low energy, and the slippery slope of procrastination. You spend half your time battling distractions, and the other half fighting off the guilt that comes from giving in to those distractions.
How can you work from home while keeping your focus? I’ve been working remotely for more than nine years, collecting productivity tactics along with my friend Dan Shure. These tricks keep us productive, regardless of where we’re working.
1. Start Your Day Right
How you start your day often determines how you end it. If you check Facebook immediately after you wake up, there’s a good chance that behavior will carry over to the rest of your day.
Turns out there’s some research to back this up: your energy and willpower peak in the morning. Throughout the day, your willpower is diminished, which means you’re more susceptible to distractions. That three-hour Netflix binge sounds a lot more appealing when you’ve already been slacking off since the morning.
Besides the usual—like exercise, diet, and meditation—there are four habits I’ve developed that help me start my days right.
Start Work as Early as Possible
Hemingway wrote every morning. Richard Branson is up and about no later than 5:45 AM—even on his private island.
You’ll find that rising before the sun is a habit shared by most successful people.
This makes sense from a productivity standpoint: You have willpower and fewer distractions early in the morning. By tackling your to-do list as soon as you wake up, you’ll avoid the desperate last minute rush to get things done.
Plus, according to one study, waking up early can also make you happier.
Make Your Bed First Thing in the Morning
Before I do anything else in the morning, I make my bed. That’s advice I picked up from William McRaven, a former US Navy Admiral and the 9th Commander of USSOCOM.
Here’s what he says about making your bed after waking up:
“If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride. And it will encourage you to do another task. By the end of the day, that one task will reinforce the fact that the little things in life matter…and if you can’t do the little things right, you’ll never do the big things right.”
This is something productivity guru Tim Ferriss swears by, too—making your bed after you wake up gives you a sense of accomplishment and crosses at least one task from your to-do list. Plus, no matter what the day throws at you, it’s one thing you can control.
I find that it also keeps me from checking my phone in bed—a massive productivity killer.
Drink a Glass of Water After Waking Up
This might sound mundane, but drinking enough water can have a pretty big impact on productivity. 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated—they don’t get the recommended intake of around 3.2L of water.
That’s bad for your health, and also bad for your productivity since:
Drinking a glass of water right after waking up takes care of two problems—it kickstarts your metabolism and helps you meet the goal of 3.2L of water. It’s a simple solution to a big problem.
Prep For Success the Night Before
“The most effective practice lies in the preparation,” says Stephen Nachmanovitch in Free Play. He was talking about practicing art and music, but it also applies to work.
Essentially, by setting up your environment prior to starting your workday, you can jump right into your most important tasks, without worrying about meaningless details that detract from your mental gas tank.
So clear your desk of distractions—even washing its surface will make you more productive. Try to plan out your to-dos the night before. And prep your lunch and snacks for the day ahead of time, so you can fuel your body without wasting effort on decision-making.
Also, clear as much of your email inbox as possible the night before. This way, even if you’re tempted to open email or need to check something in your inbox, you’re not derailed by new messages.
2. Change Your Work Environment Regularly
I spend most of my days working from my home office. But sometimes, I head over to a coffee shop or local co-working space to change my work environment.
Contrary to popular belief, a bit of ambient noise—the soft chatter inside a coffee shop, for example—can actually increase productivity. In one study published in the Journal of Consumer Research, light noise (at around 70db) was found to improve focus more than silence (at around 50db).
Then there’s the famous Hawthorne Effect, where people improve their behavior when they are being observed. That means you’ll be less liable to slack off on Reddit if others are watching—one reason why people working from co-working places report a 6-7 point improvement in productivity.
However, not all environment changes have to be as drastic. Even something small as moving from a sitting desk to a standing desk can give you an immediate boost in productivity.
3. Understand Your Willpower—and Make Use of It
Willpower is a quintessentially human trait, but most of us don’t really understand it.
Research shows that willpower, like energy, is a finite resource. Metaphorically, you start every day with a limited quantity of “willpower points.” As you move through the day—making (and putting off) decisions—you spend those points. Once you’re depleted, you’re prone to temptations and distractions.
The key to productivity is to manage these “willpower points” so you have more energy for making hard decisions (and ignoring distractions).
Here are a two things that work for both me and Dan:
Choose the “Path of Least Resistance”
Every time you fight off a temptation, you spend some willpower points. Actively resisting the urge to eat a donut is harder than not having the donut at all.
I call this “choosing the path of least resistance.” Instead of fighting off temptations, you remove them from your surroundings altogether.
No temptations, no willpower wasted.
If you’re trying to lose weight, you wouldn’t stuff your freezer with ice cream. You’d tame your urges by eliminating your access to them. Similarly, if you’re trying to avoid social media, blocking the sites altogether will conserve more willpower than actively avoiding the urge to open Facebook in a new tab.
Design Your Environment to Prevent Failure
When I walk into my office every morning, I have three things already setup for me:
This way, I don’t have to dawdle around while I wait for the laptop to load, or figure out what tasks to tackle for the day.
By designing my work environment this way, I hit the ground running instead of fighting off distractions. This conserves willpower and ensures I don’t lose momentum.
4. Keep Your Work and Personal Spaces Separate
When you’re working from home, it’s easy to curl up in bed with a laptop and pretend that you’re “working.” I should know—I did that for years.
I had my biggest productivity gains when I started treating my work and personal areas as separate spaces. I used my bedroom just for sleeping, the living room for entertaining friends, and built a separate home office just for work.
This helps set the frame for improved productivity. When you enter your home office, you don’t expect to take a nap or watch TV. Your brain gets spatially wired to think of the office as the place where work happens.
You get bonus points if you dress up in office attire (or at least something more formal than PJs) when you’re working at home.
Plus, the separation creates a mini “commute.” Simply walking from the bedroom to the office signals that you’re physically moving between work and personal space. Your brain automatically switches into productivity mode when it starts seeing the work area as a place to get things done.
5. Make Better Use of Productivity Tools
Every productive person I know has their own “recipe” of productivity tools. Some of them keep it sparse, using a couple of tools at most. Others use complicated combos to keep track of everything.
Here are the tools I use for keeping my productivity up:
You’ll need your own set of apps to stay focused and productive. Check out Zapier’s app roundups and reviews to find the best software, and make sure your toolkit keeps you productive. If a tool isn’t getting the job done, it’s time to switch to another app.
6. A/B Test Different Productivity Methods
The pages of the web’s most popular blogs are packed with “game-changing” productivity techniques. Here are a few methods I’ve tried:
But here’s the problem: These techniques rarely work for everyone. The popular Pomodoro Technique, for example, requires you to break a 5-minute break after every 25 minutes of work.
This sounds great if you’re working on a manager’s schedule, with your day broken into hour-long blocks. However, if you’re writing, coding or doing anything creative (i.e. following a “maker’s schedule”), two breaks every 50 minutes is two breaks too many.
Instead of forcing one method to fit your work style, try A/B testing different time management techniques on yourself. That way, you’re not flying blind, and you can zero in on your perfect system for personal productivity.
With this approach, you’d try out technique A on Day 1 and technique B on Day 2. Track your mood and productivity over a couple of weeks and you’ll get a fair idea of which technique works better for you.
7. Track and Gamify Your Productivity
There’s a simple maxim in management science: what can be measured, can be improved.
This applies to productivity as well. If you track how many hours you’ve worked, your mood, and your number of tasks completed, you can spot weaknesses and improve your performance. Once you have data, you can even up the ante by gamifying productivity—say, rewarding yourself with a favorite treat if you exceed 8 hours of work for 5 days in a row.
You could track your productivity with an app like RescueTime, but I prefer an old fashioned method. I create a spreadsheet for each month and track the number of hours I worked each day, using a time tracking app like Toggl to tally the minutes. You can connect it to Google Sheets with a Zapier integration to automatically log each day’s time.
To push myself further, I create a create a lower and upper limit (in daily hours). Dipping below the lower limit invites a penalty. Going over the upper limit gets me a reward.
I then create a chart for the month so I know whether my productivity is going up or down. Here’s what your spreadsheet might look like:
And here’s the accompanying chart I add, to view my productivity at a glance:
At a glance, I can see if I’m doing well, when I’m slacking off, and how many hours I’m working every day/week/month on average.
8. Build Habits with the X-Cards Technique
Most of these tactics require making a new habit—the holy grail of productivity. So, how long will that take?
Phillippa Lally is a health psychology researcher at University College London. Lally and her research team published a study in the European Journal of Social Psychology where they tried to figure out how long it really takes to form a habit.
After examining 96 people for 12 weeks, they concluded it takes 2 months on average before a new behavior becomes automatic—66 days to be precise.
I’m not going to tell you that’s a hard-and-fast rule—you won’t magically enter habit-mode after 66 days. But it’s a good benchmark to shoot for.
One way to measure your progress is by using the X-card technique. (Some people call this the “Seinfeld Technique,” named after comedian Jerry Seinfeld who committed to working every day to hone his craft, without breaking the chain.)
The technique is simple enough: start by creating an “X-Card,” an index card divided into a 7x7 grid of 49 boxes. You could also use a dedicated app like 7 weeks or a good old-fashioned calendar.
On top of each card, write the habit you want to stick with. Every time you stick to that habit, you mark it with a big X in one of the boxes.
For example, if you decide to go to bed every day before midnight, your X-card will look like this:
Every day before you go to bed, cross the boxes one by one. But here’s the catch: you need to keep the streak alive. Building a habit means taking the same action every single day. Whenever you need a little extra motivation, remind yourself that missing an X means your streak is busted, and you’ll need to start from square one.
Staying productive while working from home is a big issue—perhaps the biggest issue for remote workers.
How you choose to face that challenge won’t just determine your productivity—it will determine your future success and even your happiness. If you adapt these tips to your life, you just might find that your time off the clock is more productive, too.
Be Productive Anywhere: 8 Proven Strategies for Better Remote Work | Zapier
As our remote team has grown and built Zapier together, we’ve pieced together some of the best practices for remote work, and put them in a free eBook.
Dmitry Dragilev is the founder of JustReachOut, helping entrepreneurs forget PR firms and pitch relevant publications and reporters all on their own.
Image by Caroline Tomlinson via Getty.
A Biohacker’s Guide to the Holiday Feast
I promised this wouldn’t be a recipe article, and it isn’t. However, there are many holiday foods and drinks that you can swap for delicious healthy alternatives with little to no effort on your part.
This section is a simple list of some great keto, gluten-free, or just downright healthier alternatives of classic holiday table foods.
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The wine industry is fraught with misinformation, and wine corporations are notoriously found in lawsuits related to harmful ingredients that aren’t on the label. For example, a few years back a class action lawsuit unveiled that many California wine companies have high levels of Arsenic in their wines.
This isn’t even to mention mold toxin content, and other problematic ingredients. However, wine can be a great and even healthy addition to the Holiday feast.
The “In Vino Veritas” study found that wine had positive effects on cholesterol markers for those who also regularly exercise, and did not negatively affect cholesterol and certain other health markers in those who do not.
Dry Farm Wines, & Fit Vine Wines are both lab-tested wine companies created with health in mind. They are also delicious and very unique. If you are a fan of wine but not of the buzzy, sugar-fueled headache the next morning, these are both a great, clean brand to try.
I won’t promise you won’t have a hangover if you drink several bottles, but personally I feel much better when consuming these than your typical store-bought reds.
If you want to find your own healthy wine, look for biodynamic organic wine. A google search will show you if you have access online or in your area.
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You’re going to see the brand Simple Mills a few times on this list. This company specializes in baked products while being simultaneously gluten-free, non-GMO, and paleo-friendly.
Furthermore, their products feel and taste like the real deal. From cookies to crackers, Simple Mills knocks it out of the park.
Considering how difficult it is to find paleo desserts, I love Simple Mills cookies. These are a phenomenal treat to leave by the fireplace for Santa, especially when paired with the next item on the list.
These guys are widely available, from Whole Foods to Target. If you can’t find em’, consider ordering online from a site like Thrive Market, which provides health-conscious food products at lower prices through a Costco-style membership program.
If you feel inflamed or just generally worse after consuming dairy, you may be reacting to the A1 Casein protein found in high amounts in American dairy.
This protein is different in structure from the protein found in human, goat, and many other animal milks. It is also similar in structure to gluten, and if you have a gluten sensitivity, this may be fueling your dairy sensitivity.
Not everyone wants to switch to goat’s milk, which is often more sharp in flavor, but thankfully there are companies selling all A2 casein cow’s milk. The A2 Milk company is pretty easy to find and is even on the shelves of Walmart these days.
Not worried about Casein but you are sensitive to lactose? No worries, try Fairlife milk. They don’t advertise it on their bottles, but Fairlife milk is lactose-free. My Dad gets bad gastrointestinal problems if he drinks milk, but he can consume Fairlife products with no issue.
These are also available in most stores.
I told you you’d see these guys a few times on this list. One of the most annoying things about going gluten-free can be the lack of crackers.
Cold platters of meats and cheeses are an awesome part of the holiday feast that many people can enjoy even if they can’t eat gluten, but if you’re like me, it feels strange not having that decadent, crunchy base that is a perfect cracker.
Not to mention all the awesome and healthy dips you have to miss out on, such as guacamole or hummus.
Simple Mills saves the day again here. I love their rosemary almond crackers, but they have several different crackers to choose from. Frankly, I think you should look for Simple Mills first for any gluten-free pantry alternatives.
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Okay, like I said, this isn’t a recipe article. However, I am aware that many of you are chefs, at least for the holidays. If you are in need of bread and are going to make it yourself anyway, I strongly recommend using Simple Mills Artisan Bread Flour.
This bread flour creates one of the best gluten-free breads that I have ever found, and it’s fairly versatile as a flour replacement as well.
The other brand I strongly suggest is King Arthur Flour. They make flours for all occasions and aren’t strictly gluten-free, but they do have such options.
If you’re bold or love cooking, one of my favorite things to do is make authentic sourdough using King Arthur’s mixes.
Sourdough bread is lower in gluten when made properly, but unfortunately, supermarket sourdough is almost always fake. The reason is that sourdough bread requires several hours of fermentation when it is made correctly and has a low shelf-life.
This fermentation process creates resistant starches in the bread, which makes it a great option for use in the second-meal effect mentioned as a tactic earlier in this article.
Now, there is likely still some gluten content in sourdough even when it is made correctly, so I still pair it with the Gluten Guardian supplement. However, I love bread, and I love sourdough the most.
Home-made sourdough is delicious and an incredible way to get your bread fix this holiday without consuming massive amounts of gluten.
I make mine using King Arthur Sourdough starter and their crock. If you have some time and want to go completely gluten-free, you can make a gluten-free starter using their recipe here. For the flour itself, I use King Arthur Gluten-Free Flour.
For a recipe on how to make the sourdough itself, either follow King Arthur’s classic recipe but using the gluten-free flour and starter, or try their flatbread, or sourdough English muffin recipes.
King Arthur has phenomenal recipes for gluten-free baking in general, so if you’re trying to figure out gluten-free pie crust or sandwich bread, look no further. Here is their entire gluten-free recipe section.
25 Best Fly Fishing Books for Anglers of Any Level
Expert and novice fly fishermen alike know that there’s an endless learning curve when it comes to catching fish on the fly. No matter how accomplished you become as an angler, there will always be another fishing technique to master, a new knot or fly pattern to learn or angling destination to read up on and visit!
Our list of the best fly fishing books will keep you both entertained and learning no matter your level of experience as well as inspire you to experiment with new fishing tactics, tie new flies and venture to new water!
We’ve tracked down instructional fly fishing books for building your technical skills and angling knowledge as well as some books for pleasure reading that will get you excited to be on the water and encourage you to deeper immerse into the world of fly fishing!
Perfect as a gift for a friend or as an addition to your own library, our list of both classic and modern fly fishing books will continue to fuel the addiction! Tight lines from all of us here at Heavy!
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